Country Comedian, Jerry Clower, once told about a lady he knew down in Amite County. She lived near a construction site, and workers were putting a tar roof on the building near her house. This lady had sixteen children - or young’uns, as Jerry would call them. One day she lost one of her children. She got to hunting him and discovered he had fallen into a fifty-gallon drum of black roofing tar at the construction site. She reached down, hauled him up, took a look at him and shoved him back down in the drum of tar. She said “Boy, it’d be a lot easier to have another one than to clean you up.”

God must feel that way about some of us sometimes. It would be easier to have another one than to clean us up; but He does clean us up. He gives us what we need to make a new start. That is the good news. Because of Christ each of us can make a new beginning.

Jerome translated the Bible from Greek to Latin. Near the end of his life, Jerome was living near Bethlehem translating some of the Bible when he had a dream. In the dream, the Christ child appeared to him. He was so overwhelmed by the appearance of the Christ child that he felt he had to give him something. So he got some money and offered it, saying, “Here! This is yours.” The Christ child said, “I don’t want it.” Jerome brought some more possessions. The Christ child said, “I don’t want them either.” Jerome said, “If there is anything in the world that I can give you, tell me what it is. Tell me! What do you want? What do you want me to give you? He said he dreamed that the Christ child looked at him and said this: “Give me your sin! That’s what I came for.” That is what Christ came for---to take away our sin.

America is a nation built under God and built upon the principles of the Judeo-Christian ethic. These principles guided the thinking of our founding fathers as they penned our Declaration of Independence on that faithful July 4.

America has not been, nor ever will be, a great nation just because she harbors a wealth of natural resources, or because she has a populace of intellectual giants. America’s greatness will forever parallel her adherence to the Bible, God’s Holy Word!

The name of the almighty God, in recent times, has literally been removed from our public schools in many places. Voluntary prayer has been banned. Creationism is no longer taught as a viable alternative to scientific evolution, which is now taught to our children as a fact. As God was taken out of our schools, we have seen permissiveness, and drug/alcohol epidemics creep in Secular humanism, rather than Christ-centered education, has resulted in decadence and deterioration in many school districts.

So, we pray for our great nation of America. I am convinced that our Father is calling millions of Americans, in the so-often called silent majority, to join in the crusade to turn the United States of America around in our lifetime. We must return to our God, our church and to our Bible as before.

“What does the church offer that we lonely human souls need? In a word it offers community…a refuge, an island of caring in the midst of a hostile, competitive world. In a society that segregates the old from the young, the rich from the poor, the successful from the struggling….the church represents one place where the barriers fall and we all stand equal before God. It promises to be the one place in society where my gain does not have to mean your loss…that we can meet people as brothers and sisters, not as buyers and sellers.”

There are not many places in this world where a person can go when seeking answers and be accepted. There are not many places that will accept you as you are. God’s House is about acceptance and love in Jesus. We all need God! - Dr. John M. AdamsEphesians 3:17-21

I’ve never sat in the first-class section of an airplane; but I still hold out the hope that someday I’ll get on the plane and the flight attendant will stop me and say, “Come with me. I have a special seat for you.”

That’s why I was pretty excited when a friend gave my sister some tickets for an event and we realized that they were for box seats. Instead of sitting shoulder to shoulder with strangers all around us, we sat in a private compartment where we could see and hear everything perfectly. That evening we felt privileged and special.

Remember Jesus’ friends, Mary and Martha? Although Martha had the opportunity to enjoy having Jesus as her guest, she soon became frustrated with her sister Mary and overwhelmed with the busyness of her preparations. Certainly understandable to a lot of us! Jesus made it clear to her, however, that sometimes it’s necessary to step away from the unending pressures of life and spend undistracted time with Him. God has given us the opportunity to have personal moments with Him. By taking the time just to be with the Lord, we are fed, refreshed, and renewed.

Jesus commended Mary for taking time to sit and learn at her Savior’s feet (Luke 10:42). As it turned out – she had the best seat in the house!